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Ghost Company over Eregriis
+++Eregriis, Subsector Cryptus, Sector Deus, Segmentum Obscurus+++ +++305.342.M41+++ “Emperor. Fucking. Damn you, Prekan.” “You’re being extremely negative brother.” “‘Grab onto the Raider’ you said, ‘It’ll take us to their base’ you said. Well we’re here now; it’s just too bad it’s a damn ship you jackass! Now we’re surrounded by xenos and about to jump into the webway at any moment!” “Unlikely.” “What do you mean Kurt?” “Just before we entered the ship and comms became jammed, last transmission indicated several patrol groups from Volitus were blockading the system, capable of easily destroying this vessel, which appears to be no longer than two-hundred and fifty metres. Prior encounters with Dark Eldar indicate in such a situation they disengage and let their inertia carry them far enough away to initiate webway travel safely.” “How long?” “Between three and four hours brother.” Emerging from behind a stack of storage crates in the ship’s docking bay, Revenant Kargos sighed heavily. “Alright.....so, kill the xenos, rescue the captured Eregriisans, then signal the Navy, right?” Kurt and Prekan nodded: “Sounds good.” “A workable plan brother.” “Alright then, they took the civilians down that corridor,” Kargos starts, signalling towards a bulkhead of twisted design, “Kurt, any idea where the bridge is?” “Negative, intelligence on internal systems is incredibly limited.” “Okay, prisoners it is.” Weapons raised, the three invisible Space Marines stalked out of the landing bay, navigating around the esoteric Dark Eldar landing craft and through the murky, black corridor the evil xenos had forced scores of terrified prisoners down only minutes before. The ship seemed strangely abandoned to the Revenants, eerily shadowed and silent save for the occasional, chilling scream that echoed through the passageways. Eventually they approached a crossroads in the passage. “Where now?” Asked Prekan, as Kargos went down one of the passages a short way and examined a scrap of material that had caught on one of the many spiky outcrops littering the walls. “Standard Imperial material, this way.” They moved down the hallway finding more evidence of the prisoners’ as they went: a drop of blood, a fallen child’s toy, a severed human finger. Incomprehensible chatter began to echo from further ahead, horrified screams swiftly following. Kurt signalled for them to halt as he looked at his auspex. “Down there, on the right, a large mass of lifesigns and nine separate contacts.” The Revenants formed up beside the open bulkhead, peering inside. Within were two dozen or so humans inside a spiky cage, sobbing and in varying states of wellbeing. In front of the cage was a large, flat table over which stood a Dark Eldar, laughing wickedly as he cruelly tortured the prisoner upon the table, screeching in pleasure as he sliced into the unfortunate human with barbed knives and saws. A further seven Kabalite Warriors watched the caged prisoners, jabbing at them with electrified pokers as they laughed. At the table, the torturer stood back slightly and regarded his work, before him was what could be barely identified as an adolescent girl, her skin covered in deep lacerations and her midsection opened up, the organs pulsating in the dank air but kept functioning by a concoction of drugs pouring into her veins. The xenos leaned down slowly, his long, pointed tongue protruding from his thin lips and licking up the tears streaming from her eyes. Suddenly and without warning, he seized a large cleaver from the table and slammed it down on the girl’s neck, removing her head totally and instantly before kneeling down and letting the arterial spray cover his face. This induced a wail from the caged prisoners, quickly silenced by an angry shriek from one of the Eldar. The murderer stood back up, his mouth covered in blood; he picked up the fallen head and cackled maniacally at the agonised expression upon it. Then he lowered the severed head down as his hand grasped at his belt, unbuckling the armour, the Space Marines could only barely believe what they were seeing. “Wait...is he-“ “How incredibly disturbing.” “Kill?” “Yes I think kill.” Prekan needed no further encouragement, bursting from the doorway and slamming his power armoured fist into the offending xenos’ face with a roar, smashing his skull like a piece of fruit as he simultaneously fired his shotgun with one hand at the next nearest, the explosive flechettes tearing into her torso and reducing her to scraps of flesh. Kurt and Kargos closely followed, plasma gun and bolter flashing as they tore the surprised xenos into bloody chunks and piles of ash. After a moment it was over, and Kargos and Prekan de-cloaked as Kurt watched the doorway. Kargos addressed the cowering and terrified prisoners, “Be silent! Now, we are going to pacify this vessel and signal for recovery. We cannot spare a Marine to guard you, so you must listen very carefully. Do any of you have military experience?” A handful of the prisoners, clad in torn flak armour, stepped forwards, one of them speaking up, “Sergeant Millson milord, and what’s left of my men after the xenos attacked and took us.” Kargos wrenched open the cage door, thrusting a fallen splinter pistol into his hands, “I need you to lead these people to the cargo bay, turn left out the door, then take the first left again and follow all the way down, be quick and be silent. Find a defensible position amongst the storage containers and stay there.” The soldiers took up more fallen weapons and led the prisoners away, forced to almost drag away the parents weeping over the body of their daughter. The Revenants reactivated their cloaks, leaving the torture room and carrying on further into the bowels of the ship, the long, twisted passageway housing many more such rooms, filled with the pained screams of tortured humans. The Marines moved from room to room, methodically ambushing and purging the utterly unsuspecting xenos within, before sending freed prisoners back to the cargo bay. After a hundred or so metres, the corridor opened out into a cavernous room, vast arcane machines running throughout the walls and floor, humming and whirring. “I’m guessing this is the engine room, right Kurt?” “Your assumption is likely correct brother.” Prekan scanned the room, his keen eyes picking out targets, “I count two at the console to our left, three roaming those catwalks above us, and there’s another two, behind that large pipe to the right, they seem to be engaged in carnal activity.” Kargos nodded “I count the same, I’ll take the ones at the console, Kurt, get the ones above, Prekan, the ones behind the pipe.” “Got it.” The Revenants split up towards their targets. Kargos approached the pair of unsuspecting Dark Eldar and carefully drew his combat knife. The delicate unsheathing caused ones ear to twitch, and he turned his head towards Kargos as the Marine froze. Its evil black eyes scanned the area, hissing quietly before returning to monitoring the screens. Without warning his companion groaned in pain, arching his back as a cavernous tear appeared in his chest, the surviving xenos reached for his pistol, but was scarcely drawn halfway before a bolt tore his head off. Kurt meanwhile took careful aim with his plasma gun, and as soon as Kargos made his move, he opened fire. The first pair of shots were dead on target, evaporating the top-halves of both Dark Eldar. The third however was more slippery than his allies, immediately sprinting down the catwalk towards an exit from the engine room at an inhuman speed. He was almost at the door when the section of catwalk ahead of him was struck by a bolt of plasma, the metal melting almost instantly as the entire section fell away. Unable to halt his momentum, the xenos attempted to jump the gap, only to find the distance too great. Kurt allowed himself a small chuckle as he observed the dead Eldar, dangling limply from the jagged section of catwalk that had impaled his neck as he fell. Hearing the commotion, the two xenos behind the pipe rushed out half-naked, raising their splinter rifles and hissing fearfully as they saw the corpses of their comrades, with no culprits in sight. The male advanced from the shadows first, scanning intently for any sign of the enemy. Suddenly the female behind him was showered with blood as Prekan punched his arm straight through his chest, before seizing the female’s long hair and forcibly pulling her head through the hole he had made in the male. Prekan allowed the two a moment to realize what had happened, the female struggling furiously against his inescapable grip on her hair. After a moment the male took his last breath, and Prekan took his combat knife and jammed it into the female’s eye, the tip emerging out the back of her skull as her struggling was replaced by errant twitching. The other two Marines approached as he let the entwined corpses fall to the ground. “I bet he never thought she’d be the one inside him!” Prekan laughed heartily. Kargos merely shook his head, “What is wrong with you?” Prekan raised his hands innocently, “Hey I enjoy my work, put me on trial!” “Just....whatever....Kurt, how much explosives do you have?” “Depends on what you need blown up brother.” “Can you set up charges here to shut down the engines?” “I could, are you suggesting a plan B in case we run out of time?” “I am brother, nothing ever goes right, Murphy’s law and all that.” Prekan nodded in agreement but Kurt merely cocked his head quizzically, “What?” “You’ve never heard that saying?” Kargos replied. “Yes, of course I have: The effective range of a plasma bolt is proportional to the cube-root of the power input.” Kargos stared at him vacantly for a moment, “What?!” “The law discovered by Archmagos Mur’fii of Ryza in M33? Mur’fii’s law?” Realization dawned on Kargos and he gently rubbed the brow of his helmet between a thumb and forefinger, “Kurt....Why on Terra would I be talking about plasma weapon theory in the middle of a xenos engine room?!” “Well I don’t know brother that’s why I was confused!” “Just plant the damn charges!” “Okay okay! Here Prekan, place it over there....” The three marines shaped the malleable explosive around key points in the machinery as instructed by Kurt, and soon enough they were ready to immobilise the ship at a moment’s notice if needed. “Okay,” began Kargos, “let’s carry on searching this damnable place.” They climbed up a stairway onto the catwalks above, taking one of the exits from the engine room. More dark and twisted corridors followed, the Revenants forging through the winding passageways in search of the bridge. The twisted corridors formed no logical course, twisting and turning in a maddening maze of spiked metal. As they approached a crossroads in the labyrinth they heard a sickeningly raspy and laboured breathing noise echo down the hallway, growing louder as it approached. The Marines held their position as an enormous, shadowy figure came into view. At least twelve feet tall, what had once been a human had been grotesquely malformed into some hideous beast, obscenely oversized, vast slab-like muscles bulging from every limb and thick bony claws erupting from its hands. Beside it walked a Dark Eldar, vicious needles and blades hanging from one hand as the other pulled the hideous beast along on a leash. “What in the warp is that ''thing?” Kurt muttered. “I do not know,” replied Kargos, “nor do I wish to.” “This is not going to go down easily” interjected Prekan. Kargos pulled a green-striped magazine from his belt, loading it into his boltgun. “Hellfire rounds. On my mark, Kurt, you take out the little guy; Prekan, you and I unload at the beast.” The other two nodded and prepared their weapons. Kargos raised three fingers, before letting them fall in a countdown. As the last fell, Kurt burst round the corner, blasting the Haemonculus with a flash of plasma. As the corpse hit the floor, Kargos and Prekan fired upon the momentarily confused monster. Vast chunks of flesh erupted from the beast as bio-acid slowly ate through its torso, but the beast was not to be discouraged. With a shrill roar it charged at the muzzle flashes, lashing out with its claws at Kargos. He managed to avoid the razor-sharp edges but the back of its hand slammed into his chest, sending Kargos flying down the hallway. Kurt fired at the thing’s legs, catastrophic damage finally overcoming its insanity as it collapsed to its knees, still thrashing wildly. Prekan latched onto the beast’s collar, pulling himself up onto its back before resting his shotgun’s barrel against the back of its masked head and pulling the trigger. The headless monster fell to the ground with a dull thump as Kargos pulled himself back up, staggering momentarily before regaining his composure. “Are you okay brother?” Kurt inquired. “I’ll live,” he replied, “just some bone damage.” Prekan strode over to the fallen Haemonculus, kicking the corpse over. “Brothers....” he said worriedly, “this xenos’ wrist is flashing.” The others cast their eye upon the body, and indeed there was a faintly pulsating light on the xenos’ wrist. Suddenly, an ear-splitting screech erupted throughout the ship, rising and falling rhythmically, the Space Marines quickly tuning their ears to block out the noise. “That’s an alarm” observed Kurt. Prekan and Kargos reloaded their weapons, Kargos sighing heavily. “It sure sounds like it.” “On their way here?” “Probably.” As if on cue, the sounds of agile footsteps and the gentle clatter of metal armour echoed down the corridor. Turning to face the new threat, the Revenants saw at least twenty scantily-clad xenos charging at tremendous speed towards their position, wielding vicious blades and barbed whips. The wyches sprinted towards the crossroads, spying the fallen Grotesque and Haemonculus but nothing more. Without warning a volley of fire originating seemingly from thin-air slammed into the front rank. A pulse of searing plasma struck the lead runner directly into the face, his head evaporating as the remainder of the pulse splashed into the torso of the one behind her, the xenos squealing in pain as the several-thousand degree matter ate through her bare chest. A storm of bolts and explosive flechettes tore almost half a dozen others into mangled scraps within moments, and the momentary stunned pause of the remaining wyches gave the Revenants time to massacre a few more. Unfortunately, even among the Dark Eldar, wyches are known for their incredibly reflexes, and scarcely a second after the opening salvo they homed in on the sources of fire, dodging further shots and jumping from wall to wall, using the spiky outcrops as handholds. The Marines poured fire at the encroaching wyches, emptying the magazines at their impossibly swift foes to no avail. “Damn rats, stand still!” Prekan roared. Kargos ejected his empty magazine, “Scatter!” The three Revenants split up, each taking a different exit to the crossroads. Of the remaining eight wyches, a pair each went after Kargos and Prekan, but unfortunately for Kurt, his steaming plasma gun left the clearest trail and four took off in pursuit of him. Two wyches were hot on Kargos’ heels, and after several seconds of pursuit they heard his booming footsteps turn off the corridor and followed closely, over-eager in their hunt as they rounded the corner. As the second passed underneath him, Kargos dropped from the ceiling, crushing the wych to a messy pulp beneath his feet. The other reacted fast, lunging at Kargos with a pair of gauntlets encrusted with crystal blades. The Revenant arched away from the strike just in time, the outermost blade slicing through his helmet and leaving a deep gash down his face, the flowing blood blocking vision in one eye. Hampered by the injury, Kargos groggily attempted to deflect the xenos’ whirlwind of attacks with his combat knife, failing in most cases as the gauntlets sliced into his armour. Kargos was only spared by virtue of the blades’ relatively short length, leaving primarily superficial wounds in him but completely disrupting his cloaking field. With a better view of his target the wych soon started targeting more vulnerable parts of the Space Marine, slashing viciously at his neck. Injured, angered and bleeding profusely, Kargos grabbed the wych’s raised hands in his own, letting the razor-sharp blades pass right through his palms. The wych tried to struggle against the Space Marine’s grip, attempting to remove his hands from the gauntlets, Kargos squeezed in response, buckling the metal gloves and crushing them into the xenos’ hands as the Revenant’s blood dripped from the tips of the blades that had pierced his hands. The wych screeched for a moment as the bones in his hands cracked and broke, and then Kargos slammed his foot into his chest with a mighty kick, sending the xenos’ body flying back with his dismembered arms still in the Space Marine’s hands. Painfully extricating the blades from his hands, Kargos walked over to the dying Eldar. He spat curses and blood at the Revenant as he stood over him, the Space Marine merely raised his boltgun at the xenos’ head. “Where is the bridge?” He asked. “Will....kill...you....” The wych spluttered weakly. “I can only guarantee that ''you will not.” Kargos pulled the trigger, splattering the xenos’ head all over the floor. Prekan was sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him as he crammed shells into his shotgun. Despite the Space Marine’s impressive speed, outclassing any normal human, he knew he could not outrun these xenos. He kept his keen ears focussed on the delicate footsteps approaching from behind, following the clear sound of his pounding feet. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the bladed end of a whip flash past his head, ducking as it passed over him, the Marine span round and leapt on his back, his enormous momentum propelling him along the metal floor in a slide as he fired at the approaching pair of wyches. Forced to choose between dodging the shots and going for the agonisingly close kill, one chose unwisely, and dove at Prekan, the briefest flash filling his vision before he was turned into a pink mist by the point-blank shot. The second, and wiser, of the two evaded the fire, letting Prekan slowly ease to a halt as he fired off the last of his magazine. Prekan leapt to his feet and drew his combat knife as the baying wych approached, hissing venomously in low gothic as he span his blade around methodically, “The mon’keigh thinks I cannot see. Oh I see. Your clumsy footsteps, the noisy armour, you are animals, stumbling around like blind children, I see all.” Prekan delicately eased himself around the back of the wych, confidant its tirade was nothing but bluster, he found himself mistaken however when the xenos span round with devilish speed, slashing at Prekan. The Marine leapt back just in time as the blade’s tip cut deep into his chestplate, causing his cloaking field to distort alarmingly. As the Space Marine became more visible, the wych redoubled his efforts, hurling a shardnet at Prekan as he sliced with increasing ferocity. The net began constricting around the Revenant, pinning his arms as the wych raised his weapon for a blow to the neck. Fortunately the wych put too much faith in his equipment, the shardnet struggling to penetrate Prekan’s thick armour. Seeing his chance, Prekan wrenched his hand free and sliced the net apart with his combat knife, flinging the tattered, electrified wiring at the pouncing wych. The xenos evaded the bunched projectile with ease, but could not dodge Prekan’s knife, which he found buried deep in his abdomen a moment after he sidestepped the net. Blood spewed from the wych’s mouth as Prekan tore the knife upwards, spilling the xenos’ entrails; the wych could only glare at Prekan in disbelieving agony before falling to the floor, dead. As he fell his own weapon withdrew from Prekan’s stomach, the vicious Impaler savaging his internal organs. Prekan fell to one knee as blood poured from his open wound, struggling to breathe as the hole slowly sealed itself. Kurt meanwhile was having a much harder time. He had managed to eliminate one of his pursuers with a well timed grenade thrown over his shoulder, but the other three were hard on his heels, dodging his slow-travelling plasma shots as though they were nothing. Eventually a whip managed to wrap itself around his ankle, bringing the Space Marine slamming into the ground. He scrambled back to his knees and blasted at the wyches, only for his plasma gun to be wrenched from his hands by another whip. Not to be discouraged, he drew his Bolt Pistol and fired furiously, emptying the magazine in a matter of seconds. One of them was too slow this time, and the young and inexperienced wych’s leg and arm was blown off by the hail of bolts, the other two simply laughed at her predicament as she fell to the floor screaming. They approached the fallen Revenant, kicking the smoking pistol from his hands. Kurt attempted to draw his knife, but the razorflail wrapped around his arm, biting into the armour and disrupting his cloak as the wych wrapped the other end around a wall outcrop. Kurt struggled against the bind but to no avail, thrashing madly as they repeated the procedure with his other arm. When he was finally pinned, they began cackling; one approached with a long, hooked knife but took a hop back as Kurt kicked out at him. They only found his resistance more amusing, one ducking swiftly under his arm and getting behind the Revenant. He held the knife against Kurt’s throat, hissing cruelly as he prepared to kill the Space Marine. Suddenly a whooshing sound passed by Kurt’s ear and the razorflail holding his left arm was severed, and a moment later the xenos in front of him was blown apart by a burst of bolter fire. Seeing his fleeting chance, Kurt seized the arm of the wych behind him with his freed hand, twisting savagely and shattering the bones. He reached back and seized the Eldar bodily, throwing him over his head onto the floor in front of him, where he too was killed by a hail of bolts. Kurt drew his knife and sliced through the other flail, freeing himself as Kargos approached and handed him back his plasma gun. “I had them.” Kurt protested. “I know, but we didn’t have time.” “Thank you brother,” Kurt noticed the shear running down Kargos’ helmet and the blood seeping through, “nasty.” “You should see the other guy.” They laughed before turning their attention to the injured wych, who had by this point crawled some way away down the corridor. The pair of Space Marines followed the trail of blood for a short while before coming across the young wych, they deactivated their flickering cloaks and she saw them approach, giving up her fleeing and nursing her stumps as she eyed them. Kurt gently pushed her flat on the ground with his foot. “Where is the bridge?” She remained silent, pursing her lips as she glared up at the grey armoured giants. Kurt levelled his plasma gun at the wych’s exposed chest, her breaths accelerating as it moved closer. He pressed the searing hot barrel against her and she let out a deafening scream as her flesh blistered and sizzled. Removing the barrel to reveal a black ring of charred flesh, Kurt asked again, “Where. Is. The. Bridge?” “Fuck you mon’keigh!” She spat back. “Have it your way.” He pressed the barrel against the side of her face, the once unblemished skin turning red and bloody as the hot metal burned her. Her screams rang out once more and Kurt halted the torture. “THE BRIDGE?! WHERE?!” She did not respond this time, until Kurt moved the barrel down, letting it hover between her legs for a moment before she relented. “No! Wait! Follow the corridor down, take the second right, then the first left! Don’t kill me!” “I’m afraid that is not an option” growled Kargos. He placed his boot heel by the side of her head, easing the sole down upon her skull as she struggled. She squealed for a moment as the opposite side of her head expanded, before the skull shattered and her brains burst out. “Okay, just gotta kill everyone on the bridge and this place is cleared right?” “Sounds about right brother,” replied Kurt, “reports indicated only about a hundred Eldar took part in the assault on Eregriis, we’ve eliminated at least seventy-five. I believe we should detonate the explosives now to prevent them attempting an emergency jump.” “You’re right, do it at the same time we enter the bridge. Only a hundred you say?” “Indeed, judging by their low numbers and small vessel it is likely a recently formed Kabal, seizing slaves for trading...” Kurt paused for a moment, “have you seen Prekan?” “I’m afraid not, I followed the corridor he went down and found the two xenos that chased him dead, but he wasn’t there, and the vox is still jammed.” “Where could he have gotten to now?” Prekan was staggering through the ship in a daze, the poison coated upon the Impaler addling his mind as he wandered around deliriously, using his shotgun as a support. The corridors were spinning around him, visceral hallucinations of dead comrades dominating his vision as he scrabbled around. After what seemed to him like an eternity of pain and insanity, he felt his stomach wretch. Snatching his helmet off his head he vomited up a gruesome ichor, his body expelling the poison. His mind clearing almost instantaneously, Prekan replaced his helmet as he regained his feet, reactivating the cloak and briefly surveying his surroundings. Walking onwards a bit more, he found to his pleasant surprise his mindless path had led him to a large, grand-looking doorway surrounded by several dead guards, just in time to see his two brothers blow open the door as an even larger explosion caused the entire to ship to rumble. Kurt and Kargos moved into the bridge with weapons raised, only to find the area by the entrance devoid of foes. At the far end of the bridge was the massive viewing window, the star-speckled void of space outlining the Archon, standing in front of his ornate throne with half a dozen slave girls chained at his feet. He was flanked by a pair of heavily-armoured guards, wielding large, crackling power swords menacingly, with over a dozen more Eldar fighters of various stripes spread out in the space between the Space Marines and the Archon, stalking between the control stations and monitors of the bridge. The Archon flung a cluster of small objects at the doorway, the Haywire Grenades bursting with a crack of energy. The Revenant’s cloaks failed completely, and they pressed themselves back-to-back as the xenos slowly approached. The Archon spoke in perfect gothic, “You have caused me much disruption, mon’keighs, but now you shall die!” He drew his sword and laughed maniacally, pointing the blade at the Space Marines, “Kill them! Kill Kill Kil-GHARRK!” All eyes turned on the Archon, blood pouring from his lips as he arched his back, a moment later his spine seemed to tear itself from his back with a sickening crunch, bursting out the skin from the base to the neck, dragging his head off with it. The cause was soon revealed as the fountain of blood erupting from the horribly maimed body outlined the cloaked Prekan, holding aloft the severed head and spine, the surviving Eldar taken aback by the roaring Space Marine. “He looks angry,” remarked Kurt. “Yes he does.” The chained women dove to the ground and covered their heads as Prekan swung the decapitated head like a flail at one of the Incubi, before firing at the other with his shotgun, removing its upper body. The first Incubus recovered swiftly and slashed at Prekan with his vicious sword, the Marine turned away from the strike but it caught his weapon, scything the shotgun in two. As the sword arced downwards, Prekan stamped down on the blade, wrenching it from the elite warrior’s hands, before diving on the xenos and engaging in a brutal fistfight. Kurt and Kargos meanwhile blasted away at the other Eldar as they assaulted the pair. A hail of splinters struck Kurt’s chest, but he recovered in time to evaporate a leaping Mandrake with a sword extended at his neck. A thrown knife embedded itself in Kargos’ leg but he ignored the wound, mowing down a foolhardy pair of Kabalite warriors who failed to take cover in time, before yanking the knife free and returning it to its owner the fast way. A pair of wyches leaped over cover towards Kurt, and in response he grossly overcharged his plasma gun, releasing pulses at a tremendous rate and incinerating the xenos under an unavoidable wave of plasma. As the inevitable occurred and the gun began spewing excess plasma from its vents, Kurt hurled the weapon at a trio of Kabalite warriors taking cover behind a console, the weapon landed amongst them as the plasma reservoir ruptured, bathing the unfortunate xenos in the searing matter. The Incubus slammed its jagged fist into Prekan’s face, its dexterity belying its strength as the Revenant’s eye lens cracked and pain coursed through his face. The Marine kicked out and caught the Incubus in the side, sending him sprawling across the floor towards his fallen comrade. Snatching up the deceased’s Klaive, he swung at Prekan with the heavy blade whilst leaping to his feet, the Revenant barely sidestepping out of the way of the strike. Another swing closely followed, forcing Prekan to duck as the blade passed at neck-height, with blinding speed the Incubus span round and brought the sword in yet again, this time aimed at Prekan’s legs. Unable to evade the long blade, Prekan stepped closer and seized the Incubus’ arms as the edge slammed into his thigh, the weapon embedding deep into his flesh before he could halt the swing’s momentum, the power field evaporating his blood with a hiss. Roaring in pain, Prekan slammed a fist down on the Incubus’ wrists, tearing his hands off. The xenos staggered back slightly as blood spewed from his severed wrists, before Prekan wrenched the sizzling blade from his leg and swung it downwards, bisecting the Incubus from head to groin. Prekan let the blade fall from his hands, turning around and watching his brothers execute the last few wounded xenos. Kurt holstered his bolt pistol and retrieved the plasma gun, grumbling, “gotta fix this now....why did I choose this job when I could be in the Forge right now making things instead of being shot at?” Kargos snapped the manacles imprisoning the slave girls, the barely-clothed women quickly showing their appreciation as they embraced the Space Marines, “Thank you, thank you!” Kurt briefly glanced down at the slim figure pressed against him, “I guess this part’s not bad.” Suddenly the entire vessel rumbled from another explosion, the bridge monitors coming alive with alarming sounds and symbols. “Oh Emperor what now?!” shouted Prekan. “Kurt, do you know what these mean?” asked Kargos. Kurt ran to the nearest console. “Maybe, I read over some of Chapter Master’s reports on Eldar language he’s been learning from that Farseer, hopefully it’s not too different.” He glanced at the screens for a moment before continuing, “this....this is not good.” “What?!” “The webway drive detonation also damaged the primary cooling systems. The reactor is rapidly approaching critical temperature, when it detonates the entire vessel will be vaporised. I can attempt to slow the meltdown by shutting down other systems and reducing the demand placed on the reactor, but a detonation will inevitably occur.” Kargos glanced at Prekan, the latter nodding as he headed for the door and signalled the freed slaves to follow, the party running for the cargo hold. “Buy as much time as you can brother,” said Kargos, “We’ll have to take one of their landing craft.” Kurt responded as he flicked through the control systems, “The cargo bay doors can only be opened from here, you go, when everyone is aboard the shuttle I will open the doors and come down, hopefully the shields will hold long enough for me to reach the ship before decompression blows it into space.” “Good luck brother.” Kargos ran off towards the cargo bay, following Prekan. Arriving back in the cargo bay, Kargos saw the freed prisoners shuffling into one of the landing craft, Prekan standing by the access ramp. “How does it look brother?” asked Kargos. “There’s plenty of room inside, I have absolutely no idea how to fly the damn thing though.” “That’s okay, once outside this vessel we should be able to contact the Navy.” Sergeant Millson moved inside behind the rest of the citizens and the two Revenants followed, standing at the top of the access ramp to wait for their brother. Back inside the control room, Kurt was tapping away at the controls furiously, shutting down every system he could locate on the ship. It was an unwinnable battle though, the core temperature rising implacably. More explosions shuddered through the vessel, jets of flame bursting from the hull as the reactor’s shielding breached. Deciding the time had come to leave, Kurt flicked the switch controlling the cargo bay doors, and the massive metal shutters slid away, only a thin shield between the bay and the void. Running out of the bridge, Kurt was stopped in his tracks by a tremendous explosion roaring down the corridor, sending tons of twisted metal crashing on top of him. The Revenant struggling furiously to free himself from the fallen material the ship tore itself apart around him. In the cargo hold, Prekan and Kurt watched the shield fluctuate alarmingly, threatening to expose every one of them to space. “We cannot wait brother.” said Kargos, Prekan nodding solemnly in response. “You’re right; he should’ve made it here by now.” They stepped back from the ramp and flipped the lever on the side of the entrance, the metal panel rising up and sealing tightly. Walking into the main holding area of the craft, they addressed the people huddled inside. “Any moment now this craft will be flung into space, do not fear as we will signal the Imperial Navy to come get us. However, you will all need to brace yourselves for extreme acceleration.” The citizens proceeded to find security where they could, huddled in alcoves, against walls, or failing that simply pressing themselves to the floor. The explosions rippling through the vessel grew louder as they approached the cargo bay, eventually hitting the shield arrays. The translucent film covering the cargo bay door collapsed with an electrical crack, and the entire contents of the bay was swept into the vacuum of space. Kurt finally managed to scramble free of the metal, dashing back onto the bridge in time to see the landing craft drifting away through the panoramic viewing window. Without hesitation the Space Marine sprinted towards the window, snatching up one of the Incubi’s fallen Klaives as he went and bringing the flickering blade down with a mighty smash against the thick glass. An enormous crack shuddered down the window, and Kurt slammed the blade down again as cracks spread through the entire pane, the intricate patterns holding for a moment before blowing out into space with a terrific smash. Kurt soon followed, the Revenant zooming through the void towards the landing craft as the vessel erupted in a final, titanic explosion behind him. He drew his bolt pistol and fired sideways, the recoil bringing him out of the path of flying debris and closer towards the craft. The landing craft was soon looming up before him, and he emptied the pistols magazine directly ahead to slow himself down. Slamming into the thick metal hull, Kurt dug his gauntlet into the outer plating and clung on doggedly, struggling to keep his grip as the craft dragged him to its own velocity. Now free of the vessel’s vox jammers, Kurt contacted his brothers. “Kargos, Prekan, do you hear me?” “Kurt!” Prekan’s voice came back, “Where are you?” “I’m outside,” he replied, pulling himself along the hull towards and airlock located in the side of the craft, “come meet me at the airlock.” Kargos and Prekan arrived just as Kurt opened the inner door to the vessel, the two Revenants embracing their brother heartily. “Kurt, we thought you were finished!” “No chance brother, I just had to learn to fly.” The three shared a laugh before returning to the main holding area, sitting themselves down against a central pillar. They glanced over the rescued prisoners, some were weeping for lost family, some praying thanks to the Emperor, many others settling down to rest after their hellish ordeal. The Revenant’s removed their helmets, Kargos wiping away the dried blood that had collected around his already sealed facial wound. “Excellent scar brother” remarked Prekan. “Indeed, damn xenos ruined my pretty face” replied Kargos with a grin. “They don’t seem to mind” said Kurt, motioning towards the group of former-slave girls, chatting amongst themselves as they stole glances at the Space Marines. Prekan pulled a shard of broken armour from his stomach-wound and flicked it away as Kurt questioned Kargos. “So did you contact the Navy brother?” “I did,” he replied, “they said it would take about eight hours to get to us and manoeuvre the craft into their landing bay.” “Eurgh...eight damn hours” grumbled Prekan. “You should make the most of it,” Kurt replied, before smiling at one of the scantily-clad women looking at him, she averted her gaze and the others laughed at her. Kurt leaned towards Kargos whilst keeping his eyes on the women, “do you think the Navy could make it twelve hours brother?” Category:Stories Narratives and Fluff